Texas HVAC License and Electrician License: Requirements, Cost, and CE
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) is the single state agency that licenses both HVAC contractors, under its Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (ACR) program, and electricians, under its Electricians program. Neither trade is licensed by a city, a county, or any other state board; TDLR sets the experience hours, runs the exam through its testing vendor PSI, sets the fees, and issues the license for both. This site exists because TDLR's own requirement pages are scattered across dozens of separate URLs, one per license type, so we pull the acquisition path, the cost, and the ongoing continuing education (CE) requirement for both trades into one place, with every hour, fee, and deadline traced back to TDLR's own published pages.
Most readers land here for one of two reasons: they want to become a licensed HVAC contractor or electrician in Texas and need to know the experience and exam path, or they already hold a license and need to find TDLR-approved continuing education before an annual renewal deadline. Both are covered below, with acquisition first, since that is what most readers searching "texas hvac license" or "electrician license in texas" actually need.
How Do I Get a Texas HVAC Contractor License?
Log 48 months of supervised on-the-job training in the preceding 72 months, pass the PSI exam TDLR administers, pay a $115 non-refundable application fee, and carry the liability insurance minimum for your chosen class.
This applies to both the unrestricted ACR Contractor Class A license and the capacity-limited Class B license, per TDLR's own contractor application page. An applicant who has already held ACR Certified Technician status for at least 12 months can qualify on a shorter 36-month path within the preceding 48 months instead of the standard 48-month path. The full breakdown, including the separate technician-tier credentials that do not require this much experience, is on Texas HVAC license requirements.
How Do I Get an Electrician License in Texas?
Log 7,000 hours of on-the-job training to sit the PSI Journeyman exam, then 8,000 total hours to hold the full Journeyman license and pay a $30 application fee; Master Electrician needs 12,000 hours and two years as a Journeyman.
TDLR issues several other individual license types with lower hour requirements, including Residential Wireman (4,000 hours) and Apprentice Electrician (no hours or exam at all). See Texas electrician license types for the full ladder of ten individual license types TDLR issues, and which of them carry a continuing education obligation once you are licensed.
What Are the Texas HVAC License Classes?
TDLR's ACR program issues four credential types: ACR Contractor Class A (unrestricted scope), Class B (25 tons cooling or 1.5 million BTU/hour heating per unit or less), ACR Registered Technician, and ACR Certified Technician.
Only the two contractor classes carry the annual continuing education requirement; both technician credentials are CE-exempt but still renew annually with TDLR at a lower fee. A Class B contractor can upgrade to Class A later by passing an additional PSI exam and paying a $25 change fee, without starting the application process over.
What Electrician License Types Does TDLR Issue?
TDLR issues ten individual license types that owe continuing education (Master, several Journeyman variants, Residential Wireman, Maintenance Electrician, two Apprentice tiers) plus four types that are fully CE-exempt, including Residential Appliance Installer.
A business license, such as Electrical Contractor, is a separate credential from the individual Master or Journeyman license a person holds; many electricians hold both, but only the individual license triggers the CE obligation described on Texas electrician continuing education.
How Much Does It Cost to Get and Keep a Texas HVAC or Electrician License?
A new ACR Contractor license runs $115 to apply and $65 a year to renew; a new Journeyman Electrician license runs $30 to apply and $30 a year to renew, and Master Electrician runs $45 for each.
These are TDLR's own fees, separate from whatever a CE provider charges for the hours themselves. A full fee table for every license tier in both trades, plus the late-renewal penalty schedule, is on Texas HVAC and electrician license cost.
How Many Continuing Education Hours Do I Need to Renew?
HVAC/ACR Contractors need 8 CE hours every year, including one mandatory hour on Texas law and rules; electricians need 4 CE hours every year, and each CE hour equals 50 minutes of actual instruction, not a full clock hour.
Neither trade's technician-tier or CE-exempt license types (ACR Registered/Certified Technician; Residential Appliance Installer; the three business contractor licenses) carry any CE obligation at all. The full hour-by-hour breakdown for each trade is on HVAC continuing education and electrician continuing education.
Where Do I Find TDLR-Approved Providers?
TDLR's own roster lists 79 REG-CONFIRMED providers for HVAC/ACR continuing education and 184 for electrician continuing education, as of the most recent daily CSV pull; not every listed provider is still active or offers online delivery.
This site's approved providers directory lists TDLR-confirmed providers for both trades and marks which two carry an affiliate relationship with this site.
Explore Texas HVAC and Electrician License Resources
- Texas HVAC and electrician license requirements: full experience, exam, and fee detail for both trades.
- How Texas HVAC and electrician licensing works: the step-by-step path from logging hours to holding a renewable license.
- Texas HVAC and electrician license cost: every TDLR fee and the late-renewal penalty schedule.
- TDLR-approved HVAC and electrician CE providers: the roster, with affiliate rows marked.
- Texas HVAC continuing education: the 8-hour annual CE structure for ACR Contractors.
- Texas electrician license types: all ten CE-obligated license types and the four that are exempt.
- Texas electrician continuing education: the 4-hour annual CE structure and the apprentice alternative.
- Frequently asked questions: standalone answers spanning both trades.
- Affiliate disclosure and about this site.
This site is an independent aggregator. It does not teach, deliver, or sell HVAC or electrician training, it is not TDLR (tdlr.texas.gov/acr and tdlr.texas.gov/electricians are TDLR's own program pages), and it earns a commission on some outbound provider links, disclosed in full on /affiliate-disclosure/.
Sources
| Fact | Value | Authority | URL | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC/ACR governing statute and rule | Tex. Occ. Code Ch. 1302; 16 TAC Ch. 75 | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/laws-rules.htm | 2026-06-19 |
| HVAC/ACR Contractor experience requirement | 48 months supervised OJT in the preceding 72 months | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/contractor-apply.htm | 2026-06-27 |
| HVAC/ACR Contractor application fee | $115, non-refundable | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/contractor-apply.htm | 2026-06-27 |
| HVAC/ACR Contractor renewal fee | $65 per year | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/contractor-renew.htm | 2026-06-27 |
| HVAC/ACR Contractor CE requirement | 8 hours per year, including 1 mandatory law/rules hour | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/acrce.htm | 2026-06-19 |
| HVAC/ACR CE provider roster count | 79 REG-CONFIRMED providers | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/dbproduction2/Ltcepacr.csv | 2026-06-26 |
| Electrician governing statute and rule | Tex. Occ. Code Ch. 1305; 16 TAC Ch. 73 | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/laws-rules.htm | 2026-06-19 |
| Journeyman Electrician experience requirement | 7,000 hours OJT (exam eligibility); 8,000 hours (full license) | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/apply/individuals/journeyman-electrician.htm | 2026-06-27 |
| Master Electrician experience requirement | 12,000 total hours OJT, including 2+ years as Journeyman | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/apply/individuals/master-electrician.htm | 2026-06-27 |
| Journeyman/Master Electrician application fee | $30 / $45 | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/apply/individuals/journeyman-electrician.htm | 2026-06-27 |
| Electrician CE requirement | 4 hours per year (1 CE hour = 50 minutes) | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/elecce.htm | 2026-06-19 |
| Electrician CE provider roster count | 184 REG-CONFIRMED providers | TDLR | https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/dbproduction2/ltcepelc.csv | 2026-06-26 |
Frequently asked questions
Is TDLR the only agency that licenses HVAC contractors and electricians in Texas?
Yes, for the state-level trade license. TDLR's ACR program licenses HVAC contractors and technicians, and TDLR's Electricians program licenses electricians; some cities layer an additional local registration on top of the state license, but neither trade is licensed by any other state board.
Can I hold both an HVAC license and an electrician license in Texas?
Yes. They are entirely separate TDLR programs with their own experience, exam, fee, and CE rules; holding one does not reduce or waive any requirement for the other, and each renews on its own annual cycle.
Do I need continuing education before my first license, or only at renewal?
Continuing education applies at renewal, not at initial licensure. The experience hours and the PSI exam are what a first-time applicant completes; CE hours are the requirement to keep the license active after that first year.
Does EPA Section 608 certification substitute for a TDLR HVAC license?
No. EPA Section 608 is a separate federal refrigerant-handling certification with no expiration date and no CE requirement; it does not satisfy, and is not satisfied by, TDLR's ACR license or CE requirement.
How do I confirm a CE provider is currently TDLR-approved before I pay?
Use TDLR's own CE provider search tool, filtered to the correct trade, since a roster snapshot like this site's can lag TDLR's daily update; see approved providers for the current list this site has checked.